This disclosure generally relates to optical fibers and, in one aspect, to methods and systems for tuning optical fiber interfaces.
Optical fibers are useful in a wide variety of applications, including the telecommunications industry for voice, video, and data transmissions. In a telecommunications system that uses optical fibers, there are typically many locations where the optical fibers connect to equipment or other optical fibers. To conveniently provide these connections, fiber optic connectors are often provided on the ends of fiber optic cables.
A fiber optic connector typically includes a ferrule with one or more bores that receive one or more optical fibers. The ferrule supports and positions the optical fiber(s) with respect to a housing of the fiber optic connector. For example, when the housing of the fiber optic connector is mated with another component, an optical fiber in the ferrule can be positioned in a known, fixed location relative to the housing. This allows an optical communication to be established when the optical fiber is aligned with another suitably positioned optical fiber provided in the mating component.
Each bore of the ferrule in a fiber optic connector typically extends to a front of the ferrule. With such a design, an optical fiber can be inserted into and passed through the ferrule. As an example, after securing the optical fiber relative to the ferrule (e.g., by using a bonding agent in the bore), an optical surface may be formed on the optical fiber at the front of the ferrule. At this optical surface, sometimes the position of the core of the optical fiber may not be within industry specifications, which can negatively impact optical communication by causing insertion loss.